These three issues of Avengers comprise an old-fashioned romp with the Avengers taking on the Wrecking Crew, powered up by a mysterious figure (seen on the middle cover above) who really wants them to find Carol Danvers (seen on the same cover in her original outfit). This story was written and drawn by Jerry Ordway, one of my favorite artists from my days reading DC Comics as a kid, including his pencils on All-Star Squadron and Infinity Inc. and his inks over George Pérez on much of Crisis on Infinite Earths. But this is no inventory story, fitting in seamlessly with the ongoing storylines and character development while welcoming back some familiar faces. But that’s not all: We also have our fair share of international intrigue, with a controversial Black Panther story involving his past with the Avengers and one page from an X-Men miniseries involving Magneto’s latest venture.
In Avengers #16, Justice takes his turn chairing a meeting and, predictably, stumbles nervously through it. While Firestar and Jarvis commiserate (leading to Justice’s dialogue box below), the Senior Avengers discuss his performance sympathetically, with Cap particularly concerned.
Wanda tries to put it into pre-war context to help the old man grasp the modern concept of being the new kid, which I really don’t think is necessary (though he’s too gracious to say so).
Following the Black Knight in arriving at the mansion is Photon (Monica Rambeau), who was attacked by the Wrecking Crew because the bumbling idiots thought she was Ms. Marvel (not Captain Marvel, as she was originally called). When she rushes ahead of the team to New Orleans to face them again, Cap praises her heroism before giving directions to the rest (dedicating half the team to protecting civilians).
It’s not Capmania, but our hero still draws an adoring crowd.
At the end of the battle, the Wrecking Crew seem to escape with Photon, but in actuality they were being disintegrated by the man who sent them, and only Wanda is able to save them all by transporting them to another dimension.
As seen below, the Avengers follow as issue #17 opens…
…with the Black Knight questioning Wanda’s split-second action and Simon and Cap defending her, the latter citing the lives saved, not only Monica’s but the Wrecking Crew’s as well.
It turns out Wanda transported everybody to Polemachus, home of Arkon (from Avengers #75-76), but the place has seen better days, leading Cap to make a useful wartime analogy (as opposed to Wanda’s condescending one earlier).
Firestar blames the Black Knight for the injury that kept Justice home during this mission, so she deftly follows up on Cap’s suggestion to look underground. (If you think it’s odd that Cap calls Firestar “Angel,” everyone does—her real name is Angelica.) Cap suspects a trap, but doesn’t want to pass up the chance to help someone who needs it…
…but it is a trap, led by none under than Thundra, an ally of Arkon. She recruits the Avengers to fight the Wrecking Crew, who defeated Arkon and took over Polemachus’ Imperial City, as we see in the opening splash of issue #18, along with Photon being held captive and used as a human battery to power the Crew:
Cap doesn’t say anything, even when a mysterious warrior comes forth to execute him.
But it turns out the Green Knight is actually Cap, who reclaims his glove and shield in an unsuccessful attempt to free Photon…
…while the silent “Cap” was actually Vision.
Cap engages in some old-school Douglas Fairbanks-style fighting to take on the Three Stooges…
…before Thor frees Photon and smashes the device powering the Wrecking Crew, wrapping up the affair.
(What about the fella who was looking for Carol Danvers? A man from her past who was hit by the same device that gave her her powers and needed her Kree physiology to save his life—this was all revealed in issue #17, if you’re interested.)
These same months see the Avengers show up in Black Panther, during a time when T’Challa had been overthrown as king. The rest of the team shows up on the last page of issue #7 to stop the Black Panther from killing Kraven the Hunter, but Cap doesn’t appear until issue #8, when he and the Panther try to calm a potential riot situation as thousands of New Yorkers gather to see the famous Wakandan. More interesting is the perspective of Everett Ross, the U.S. government liaison to T’Challa (and narrator of the series), who is cartoonishly cynical but can’t help but be drawn in by Cap’s aura. (In 2025 he would probably say rizz and all the kids around him would groan.)
After trying to stop T’Challa from using the U.S. senator responsible for attracting the crowd as a scratching post—they have a long history besides—Cap clairvoyantly lets a campus police officer know he’s about to get an important call.
Cap then asks T’Challa how to disperse the crowd, and the deposed king leaves it to the living legend of World War II, along with a riddle about the concept of nation and its relation to American unity.
While the Avengers deal with the ensuing riot, and Cap tries to sub for the Black Panther, Ross ponders why T’Challa (“the client”) joined the Avengers in the first place…
…which foreshadows the revelation at the end of the issue (after Cap gives the only answer to the Panther’s riddle he could).
This is occasionally brought up by fans but was not heavily emphasized in later comics, after a brief mention in the upcoming Avengers #20 that effectively put it to bed. To that point, we see Cap again in issue #8, working out some aggression on the heavy bag that Ross’ narration implies is about T’Challa.
When the Panther shows up with evidence of U.S. cooperation with the Wakandan terrorists, it’s difficult to ascertain Cap’s attitude, given that the suggestion puts him in a difficult spot with the own official status…
…but he makes very clear that if any of this is true, he’ll confront the corruption within his own government as he always has.
In the end, Cap doesn’t get involved, although he’ll make a brief return appearance in issue #12 as the first epic storyline in this volume of Black Panther approaches its conclusion.
Finally, both Cap and T’Challa show up on one page from Magneto Rex #1, in which the world reacts (as explained below) to the United Nations agreeing to let Magneto proclaim himself ruler of the mutant nation of Genosha—and one may wonder how Magneto, as a Holocaust survivor, would take Cap’s analogy to the Munich Agreement allowing Hitler to take Sudetenland in 1938 in the hopes that he would stop his conquest in Europe (which, of course, he did not).
ISSUE DETAILS
Avengers (vol. 3) #16, May 1999: Jerry Ordway (writer and pencils), Al Gordon (inks), Tom Smith (colors), Richard Starkings and Comicraft (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Avengers (vol. 3) #17, June 1999: Jerry Ordway (writer and pencils), Al Gordon (inks), Tom Smith (colors), Richard Starkings and Comicraft (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Avengers (vol. 3) #18, July 1999: Jerry Ordway (writer and pencils), Al Gordon, Jerry Ordway, George Pérez (inks), Tom Smith (colors), Richard Starkings and Comicraft (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Avengers Assemble Volume 2.
Black Panther (vol. 3) #8, June 1999: Christopher Priest (writer), Joe Jusko and Amanda Conner (pencils), Jimmy Palmiotti and Vince Evans (inks), Elizabeth Lewis (colors), Richard Starkings and Comicraft (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Black Panther (vol. 3) #9, July 1999: Christopher Priest (writer), Mike Manley (pencils and inks), Chris Sotomayor (colors), Richard Starkings and Comicraft (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection Vol. 1.
Magneto Rex #1, May 1999: Joe Pruett (writer), Brandon Peterson (pencils), Matt Banning (inks), Richard Isanove and Liquid! (colors), Jon Babcock (letters). (More details at Marvel Database.)
Collected in: X-Men: The Magneto War.
PREVIOUS ISSUES: Avengers #14-15 (March-April 1999)
ALSO THESE MONTHS: Captain America #17 (May 1999), Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #9 (May 1999), Cable #67-68 (May-June 1999), Avengers Forever #6-8 (May-July 1999), Captain America #18 and Nova #2 (June 1999), Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #10-11 (June-July 1999), and Captain America #19 (July 1999)
NEXT ISSUES: Avengers #19-20 and #0 (August-September 1999)
THE VIRTUES OF CAPTAIN AMERICA 
Leave a comment